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The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection wishes to confirm that there are no plans in place to share any data we receive as part of an immigrant’s application for a COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment with GNIB or the Department of Justice and Equality.

Rate of payment

From Phase 3 of the Roadmap (June 29) the Pandemic Unemployment Payment will be paid at two rates, aligned to prior earnings. :

For those whose prior employment earnings were €200 per week or higher (about 75% of recipients), the rate will remain at €350 per week;

For those whose prior employment earnings were up to €199.99 per week (about 25% of recipients), the rate will be €203 per week - the primary rate of payment of the Jobseeker’s Benefit scheme

This change to the rates of payment will take effect from June 29. For those who will receive the €203 rate this will be visible in your payment on Tuesday July 7.

No person on the lower rate of payment will receive less on PUP than they were previously paid by their employer.

Payment is made by electronic transfer (for example, into your bank or credit union account) and only into accounts held in Irish financial institutions. Those applying on or after 8th April can also choose to collect their payment in a post office. They can nominate their local post office when applying online and they will need to bring a form of ID with them when collecting their payment at the post office. Payments will be made into a bank/credit union account or to a nominated post office every Tuesday once an application is processed.

If you were working and were also in receipt of any social welfare payment such as a Carer's Payment, Working Family Payment (WFP)
or One-Parent Family Payment,
you can, provided you have lost your job due to COVID-19, also claim the COVID-19 emergency payment, in addition to retaining your existing welfare payment. The COVID-19 Payment Unemployment Payment will replace your employment income and will be regarded by the department as equivalent to employment income.

If you have one adult and one or more dependant children you should claim a Jobseeker's Payment
instead of the COVID-19 Pandemic Payment.

This is because you can claim an additional allowance for your adult dependant and child dependants, which will bring your weekly payment to in excess of the €350 weekly payment due under the emergency COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment.

Apply

The quickest and easiest way to apply for the emergency COVID-19 payment is by applying online at mywelfare.ie.

All you need to apply for the service is a basic MyGovID account.
There are no appointments or anything for this. All you need is an email address and it only takes 2 minutes to sign up.

Once you've got the basic MyGovID account (or if you already have an existing MyGovID account), just click the button below to apply for this payment.

It is very important to to fill in your bank details correctly - include your BIC and IBAN
to avoid delays to your payments.

How to close your claim

How to repay COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payments

If you have received a payment for COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment and you were not entitled to it, you can find out how to refund the department here.

*To help us to process all payments as quickly as possible, we would kindly ask you not to phone the department seeking updates on your application as staff will be focusing on processing applications. Thank you for your cooperation.